Lindsey Vonn Out For Season After Super-G Crash

The Olympic champion Lindsey Vonn will miss the rest of the skiing season after fracturing her shin and tearing knee ligaments in a crash during the opening Super-G at the world championships in Schladming, Austria on Tuesday.

The Olympic champion Lindsey Vonn will miss the rest of the skiing season after fracturing her shin and tearing knee ligaments in a crash during the opening Super-G at the world championships in Schladming, Austria on Tuesday.

The American, who is a four-time overall World Cup champion, fell after a jump halfway down the race, which started three-and-a-half hours behind schedule and in poor visibility.

A US team statement said: "According to US ski team medical director Kyle Wilkens, Vonn suffered a torn ACL and MCL in her right knee and a lateral tibial plateau fracture. She will be out for the remainder of this season but is expected to return to racing for the 2013-14 Audi FIS World Cup season and the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi."

Vonn, who nearly somersaulted across the snow, was heard screaming in pain. She was flown to hospital in Salzburg by helicopter.

Slovenia's Tina Maze won the race ahead of Switzerland's Lara Gut and Julia Mancuso of the USA. The race was called off after 36 racers had started, because of more fog. The results stand, as the top 30 racers had started their run.

Maze said the race was "not easy". Days of snow and rain had affected the course and softened the surface especially in the lower part. The evening before the race, FIS women's race director Atle Skaardal called it an "extreme situation." The fog further complicated matters.

Several racers struggled with the changing conditions, with favorites like Maria Hoefl-Riesch of Germany and Anna Fenninger of Austria missing gates and failing to finish and Viktoria Rebensburg of Germany finishing 0.94sec off the leading time in eighth.

"It was OK," Maze replied when being asked whether the race should have been started. "World championship races often have special conditions. The mistakes from the girls were not because of the slope."